The Way We Fall
by Mandolina Lightrobber
Summary: They both live by different rules, they both fight for different reasons. So why do they seem to be each other's mirror reflection? /Lightning X Storm, FF XIII and FF Versus XIII/


**A/N:** Written for a LiveJournal _1sentence_ writing challenge community. 50 sentences about the pair Lightning and Storm from _Final Fantasy XIII_ and _Final Fantasy Versus XIII_, respectively. I'm curious to know how well I've guessed their personalities from the limited sources at this point it time.

**Warnings:** None, worksafe.

**Disclaimer:** Square Enix owns all.

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**The Way We Fall**

**#01 – Comfort**

When things got rough and they could no longer rely only on themselves, each other's closeness brought the reassurance they needed to continue fighting.

**#02 – Kiss**

The first one happened on pure accident – right after a battle in which they had lost sight of one another, wrongly assuming the other to have fallen, but once proven wrong, they had not been able to hold back their joy and relief, and it had resulted in a rather fierce kiss.

**#03 – Soft**

There were times when even the gentlest whisper could scare away the magic of the moment, so they tried to speak as little as possible on the nights when even the world seemed to be holding in its breath.

**#04 – Pain**

There were many things associated with pain in their past and they continued to fight if not to forget them, then to at least prevent them from happening again.

**#05 – Potatoes**

She would have believed him to be a couch potato, given how still and detached from this world he could look, if she had not seen him fight.

**#06 – Rain**

When it rained, Storm could stand at the top of the stairs and watch the water pelting down on the stone steps, while Lightning preferred to stay as far away from the humidity as possible.

**#07 – Chocolate**

Storm was not particularly interested in sweets and candy, but watching Lightning discover yet another delicious and foreign to her treat almost made him reconsider.

**#08 – Happiness**

They were almost always the smallest things that brought the most joy and made them feel the most alive; be it a nightly walk in the city or a friendly sparring match where they went all out on each other and showed off their skills.

**#09 – Telephone**

He never considered the need for a mobile telephone because there was barely anyone left to call, but after meeting her, he was starting to reconsider that decision.

**#10 – Ears**

He was fascinated by the fact that her ears were slightly pointed, and the lavishing attention he paid to them during their intercourse could almost be taken as obsession.

**#11 – Name**

"Call me... Storm," he hesitated only briefly before giving her the name, and she smirked in response, bent her head to one side in amusement and offered her own, "In that case, I'm Lightning."

**#12 – Sensual**

Every touch, each breath of air seemed to ignite them; swords clashed, bullets danced and their eyes burned because fighting was a dance as much as it was a passion.

**#13 – Death**

Death was always an option, an undeniable possibility always at their heels, and it could come any time, therefore they lived each day as it came, enjoying the time spent together and surviving the hours when they were separated.

**#14 – Sex**

When things came down to sex, they did not bother holding back: there was no time to spare; at least not until the last battles were fought and they had come out victorious.

**#15 – Touch**

One touch was never enough – it only brought a craving for more, but giving into it would mean a defeat that neither wanted to accept, nor admit.

**#16 – Weakness**

Sometimes they doubted themselves and their resolve, fearing that being so close and intimate with one another would create a huge weakness that their enemies could exploit.

**#17 – Tears**

There was nothing left to cry for in their lives and the occasional spurs of regret and sadness only motivated them to fight on instead of prompting them to give up, as some of their enemies hoped.

**#18 – Speed**

They were both tremendously fast and one of their favourite pastimes was trying to outrun each other, whether it was during a battle or a walk through the town – there was this strange thrill in turning everything into a challenge.

**#19 – Wind**

Sometimes his friends showed up and then Lightning was left watching the swirling clouds of dust created by the air currents in the wake of the quickly disappearing car; it was also the time when she returned to her own world because some battles could not be put off in favour of a fairytale they could never live out.

**#20 – Freedom**

Her freedom was in flight, in falling from the sky and high constructions; his freedom was taking the roads, heading in directions hitherto unknown and knowing that there would always be a place to return to.

**#21 – Life**

It was a fight, a war they had to win and were too afraid to lose, but the turns and twists it took were nearly impossible to predict, and in the end there were only the small things that they could change.

**#22 – Jealousy**

Storm would never admit it, but every time Lighting ran off to another fight with the blond guy whose name he never bothered to remember, he was ready to kill him then and there, but held back, aware that sometimes they had to fight in different battlefields.

**#23 – Hands**

A simple touch started it all; a small bolt of electricity, and they did not know what had happened, but the world seemed lighter all of a sudden.

**#24 – Taste**

She was spicy, sharp and colourful, he was like salt – nothing special, yet irreplaceable; and together they were the most perfect combination possible.

**#25 – Devotion**

They ruthlessly pursued their goals, striving to bring peace and order back, because anything else, _anything less_, could tear their worlds apart, though somehow they had started counting each other into their plans and did not think twice when helping the other meant abandonment of their primary goals.

**#26 – Forever**

There was no forever in their lives because their worlds were slowly falling apart and the battles they fought to prevent it, as endless as they seemed, were slowly drawing together and approaching the end that would either shatter all or salvage at least a small part of their lands.

**#27 – Blood**

After the battle, he looked over the stairs and the front yard of the imperial residence and saw nothing but death; and while the corpses could be removed and disposed of and the next rain would wash the blood away from the stones, the emptiness inside him would not cease, and Lightning advised him to not fight it, but accept it.

**#28 – Sickness**

The world was infected and sick because of the greedy people who sought unlimited power and tried to bring a new order to their worlds; both Lightning and Storm lived to fight them.

**#29 – Melody**

Having spent so much time near one of the crystals, Storm had learned to listen to them and when he told Lightning that he could hear it sing something unearthly, she looked away and admitted to having noticed it too.

**#30 – Star**

The Crystals were their guiding light, the star they would always follow and protect against everyone and everything because, to them, it was a reason to exist and fight for, the power that kept their worlds together.

**#31 – Home**

He had to protect his kingdom in spite of the constant threats, and anyone who got in his way had to pay the price, and she knew that and respected his resolve, very well aware that her decisions were not all that different from his.

**#32 – Confusion**

Their first meeting had been filled with mistrust and confusion because they came from different worlds and their enemies seemed to be nothing alike, but once it was established that they were all after the same thing, fighting side by side did not seem like that big of a threat anymore.

**#33 – Fear**

They had never felt much fear, but as the time went on, a small terror of losing each other was starting to form at the back of their minds, and it often entered their subconscious to make them fear and doubt, and question the other's motives and sincerity.

**#34 - Lightning/Thunder**

He decided that her codename was rather fitting for her personality – her attacks were quick and powerful and keeping up with her was always a treat he enjoyed very much.

**#35 – Bonds**

More often than not, they doubted the connection between them and stability of their relationship to be long-lasting because there was always that silent voice at the back of both their minds that whispered about it continuing only for as long as they had common reasons to fight for.

**#36 – Market**

She had already had some not very nice experience with different and dangerous places, including markets where you could buy absolutely everything – from old and broken devices to slaves –, but for him everything outside of the world he was used to was new and intriguing.

**#37 – Technology**

Lightning took great interest in technology, swiftly learning the ways it could be utilised to her advantage and never passed up on an opportunity to learn about the latest upgrades and inventions, and Storm would always stand by, leaving her to her own devices and silently pondering the passionate expression on her face.

**#38 – Gift**

At one point in their lives the biggest gift they could have was finding each other's eyes in the middle of another bloodbath and making sure the other was still alive, but with time it became all too little and the need for more made them seek a different type of contact.

**#39 – Smile**

Ever since Lightning had come into his life, Storm found himself smiling more and more often.

**#40 – Innocence**

They both had seen the innocence of children breaking, had watched tragedies unfold in front of their very eyes, unable to do anything to stop them, and whenever they found a corner of their worlds untouched in all of its primitive beauty, they were willing to believe that some things could still be salvaged.

**#41 – Completion**

There would be no completion in their lives until they each won their respective wars or died trying, and even in that final option they could only find peace, and never the absolution they sought.

**#42 – Clouds**

She liked watching how clouds passed overhead, reflecting on the events of her life and smiled, realising that, while there were still many battles to fight and even if things changed and this word became unrecognisable, there would always be a Storm to return to.

**#43 – Sky**

As Lightning put it, sky was good for falling from, and Storm laughed, countering with an argument that, in a way, it was also giving them light.

**#44 – Heaven**

He asked her once whether she believed in afterlife and she frowned, not understanding what he meant; death was death and that was all she wanted to know.

**#45 – Hell**

Their battlefields were hell on earth; waste islands of death and destruction and broken lives, but for them there simply was no other way of living.

**#46 – Sun**

It did not matter to her whether he worked in broad daylight or in pitch blackness; if she ever ran out of light, an explosion or two fixed that problem, and Storm could do nothing but shake his head in wonder.

**#47 – Moon**

Storm had the tendency of wandering around the city on moonlit nights and Lightning tried to wait for his return, but was not patient enough and always ended up going out to look for him, but could never track him down; all too often she would turn around and find him leaning against a wall, looking at her with an unreadable gaze.

**#48 – Waves**

Every now and then there were those on-floods of inexplicable happiness that neither of them could explain, but with time they became more and more frequent and they no longer sought an explanation for the feeling of completion and of finality they had while being together.

**#49 – Hair**

She laughed about his hair – its colour and how it stuck out in all directions at the back of his head –, but he never minded it because he found it quite amusing himself.

**#50 – Supernova**

...and when their death finally came, they were both hoping for it to be something grand and blindingly powerful; to leave this life the same way they had lived – that was their one hidden prayer on the days when everything seemed to be getting only worse and the events were rapidly spiralling down to something that could only be defeat.

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End file.
